Caitlin Clark sets all-time major women’s college basketball scoring mark

MINNEAPOLIS — University of Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark added another record to her already impressive résumé on Wednesday, breaking Lynette Woodard’s all-time major women’s career scoring record.

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Clark, a senior guard, scored a game-high 33 points to lead the Hawkeyes (25-4, 14-3) to a 108-60 road victory against Big Ten rival Minnesota (15-13, 5-12), according to ESPN. That gave her 3,650 points, one more than Woodard, who starred at Kansas from 1977 to 1981, The Associated Press reported.

Clark hit the record-breaker with 4:17 left in the game when she buried a 3-point shot, according to the AP. Her eighth 3-pointer of the game gave her 157 for the season, an NCAA single-season record, ESPN reported.

Clark also had her 17th career triple-double, according to the Des Moines Register.

Woodard played before the women’s NCAA era, and her 3,649 points remain the best among AIAW players, according to ESPN.

Pearl Moore, who played at Francis Marion from 1975 to 1979, is the AIWA’s small school and overall record holder at 3,884. She also scored 177 points in junior college before enrolling at Francis Marion, giving her 4,061 points overall, according to the AP.

Clark had already broken the NCAA women’s basketball career scoring record on Feb. 15 against Michigan when she poured in a school-record 49 points. That effort moved Clark, a senior, past University of Washington star Kelsey Plum’s total of 3,527 points.

Now Clark sets her sights on the overall college basketball record of 3,667 points, set by LSU’s Pete Maravich, according to ESPN.

Maravich, Moore and Woodard all played before the 3-point line was allowed in college basketball, and Maravich played from 1967 to 1970, before freshmen were allowed to compete.

Woodard told ESPN that she would like to speak with Clark someday.

“I know what it must mean to her because I’ve been there. I would have some wisdom for her if we ever talk, and I hope that we will one day,” Woodard told the sports cable outlet. “I think she’s an awesome player. I would love to meet her. But what I say would be between her and I, because I can share some things that nobody knows. She will be the only one that will understand what I was saying because she’s doing it.”

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